The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) has unveiled LawNet 4.0, incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) into its 35-year-old legal research platform.
The upgraded platform's flagship feature is LawNet AI search, which is developed in partnership with Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
The tool utilises the latest GPT-Legal Q&A model that is specifically tuned for contract law. This enables lawyers to pose questions in natural language and receive AI-generated responses backed by relevant Singapore case law and legislation. It can address various legal question archetypes, from factual queries to case-specific and hypothetical scenarios, providing nuanced and context-aware insights.
According to SAL, the AI search function is designed to provide a more intuitive and responsive research experience while complementing traditional keyword searches. It will be expanded to cover family and criminal law use cases in the future.
Moreover, LawNet 4.0 delivers significant technical improvements. Users can expect response times up to 10 times faster than the previous version, along with enhanced search result relevance.
Users can also use the new legislation module of LawNet 4.0 to view statutory provisions alongside relevant case law, beginning with Singapore's Companies Act. “We will use generative AI to create annotations for statutory provisions. [That way,] we can provide dynamic updates as new judgments are issued,” says Justice Kwek Mean Luck, judge of the High Court.
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Yeong Zee Kin, SAL’s chief executive, adds: "We will leverage AI and foster strategic partnerships to ensure LawNet remains as the bedrock of quality legal research in Singapore law. Our partnership with IMDA has enabled us to transform how legal research is conducted.”
Trialling AI agents for legal
SAL is also exploring broader applications of AI in the legal practice. It has developed a proof-of-concept "agentic AGM demonstrator" in partnership with IMDA, which can autonomously manage the entire process of planning and executing Annual General Meetings.
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The solution frees up corporate secretaries’ time to focus on higher-value advisory and strategic tasks, such as advising boards on governance and regulatory changes to prevent costly non-compliance and guiding companies on strategic moves like restructuring or Initial Public Offerings.
“This initiative represents SAL's investigation into how AI agents could streamline routine corporate governance processes and enhance compliance,” says Yeong.
